Yesterday, the homeless community in Albuquerque–both housed and unhoused–held their annual vigil remembering people who have died in the last year. As I listened to the names of those who had died and heard the refrain “We remember you”, I recalled this painting that hangs in a museum in Munich. The English title is “The Long Road”. The German title points more to the difficulty of the path than to its length.

Often the path home is long; often it is difficult. Almost always there’s someone to lean on as Mary leans on Joseph in this painting. Yesterday, survivors talked about people they had leaned on, people who had encouraged them, kept them going. They were talking about some of the people whose names we had heard–people who had helped shoulder their burden when they were on the streets.